Childhood

Born 2nd April 1934

My first memories were of the living room in our rented house at Trentham Row, Dewsbury Road, Leeds. We always had a fire ~ even in summer ~ and rarely turned on the centre light. I remember the gold and red glow everywhere, and the dark shadows behind everything ~ tables, chairs, piano and ourselves ~ flickering, moving like dancers without faces. I have other memories of my early childhood that now seem almost like dreams, but they were real enough, and often finished in tears and tantrums. For instance ~ losing my Grandfather’s expensive Georgian walking cane down the storm grate outside the house. A beautiful ebony cane with a highly decorative silver grip that was never, ever, recovered. My dear Father shouted angrily at me, whilst my poor Mother wept her regrets!

At the age of five I contracted Diphtheria, but survived it and developed into a very dramatic child who wrote many plays and forced my poor niece and nephew to act in them. Many times I would persuade the local children to perform in my concerts and plays in the street outside my home and the neighbours would bring out benches and chairs to watch the entertainment. I would then send one of the other children around with a tin to collect money which was sent to help the Army, Navy, Airforce and occasionally the Red Cross during the 2^nd World War ~ a scary period in my early childhood, listening to the drone of enemy aircraft and the explosion of bombs nearby.

By the age of four I had developed a keen interest in art, and was drawing and painting everything around me. The street scene above is the view from my bedroom window. At Nursery School I once signed a painting, and after my name added B.A. without realising exactly what it meant ~ but having seen other artists use their professional titles it seemed appropriate! My love of literature, poetry, theatre and music quickly followed, and at the age of eight I first encountered Shakespeare, and never quite recovered! My dear father Clifford, often took me to the Leed’s Art Gallery, for ~ although not a painter himself ~ he loved to look at the work of the great artists and always encouraged me in my childish attempts to emulate their extraordinary talent.